A Visceral Winter Trip
by lyontyl
A brisk cold morning had us rushing to get wood to get the stove piping hot. We each decided we would be individually responsible for our breakfasts so while the others made their food I made some coffee and made some rolled oats, with chia seed and walnuts. Boy that warm coffee and oatmeal really hit the spot!
The discussion then progressed on the most important topic of the day, which was where we were going to fish!
Since we hadn't had any prior experience with this lake we decided to start next to the small island and work our way around the lake and fish spots of perceived significance using my GPS and the cartography it provided of the lakes. It wasn't long before we had moved off the island and found a fast dropping ledge that were holding some lake trout. We had some near misses and bites but were able to hook up with enough lakers to give us a nice supper for one of the nights. Meanwhile back near the tents, unbeknownst to us we had a laker take one of our tip-ups for a ride and a larger one that decided to take Capt'n Tony's dead stick rod for a ride before breaking the line. What a nice fish!
We had found that the laker's were quite fond of a quarter ounce fuzzy grub in white/pink so after awhile we moved around on looking for sharp drops from shore to deep water trying to find larger fish. We found a few ;)
We stopped back at the tent for a quick Uncrustable, deer stick, and Cliff Bar before heading to the opposite side of the lake to fish. It was such a nice day to enjoy the scenery.
Tonight was my night for supper so I headed back to the tent to prep. The special for tonight was smoked gouda mac and cheese with andouille sausage, chicken, and fried onions. It really hit the spot and after a mug of whiskey and hot cocoa it was time to hit the sack. I learned my lesson from the first night and we all agreed to keep wood in the stove. I also prepared myself for the battle with the cold. I began by putting my extra wool blanket inside of my sleeping bag and inserting a water bottle full of boiled water at my feet. I doubled up layers for clothes and put two adhesive body warmers on my shoulder blades. In theory this would have been a better setup for the first night because at about 3 in the morning I woke up in a sweat and before I knew it had the heating pads ripped off, socks off, blanket out, and water bottle out of the bag. I was WAY to hot!! Well at least I had one more day to perfect my sleeping arrangements.